JONESBORO, Ark. (7/24/17) – The Arkansas State volleyball team was one of 145 Division I programs to receive a Team Academic Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association as announced by the AVCA Monday.

The Red Wolves were one of four teams from the Sun Belt Conference to earn the recognition from the AVCA and this marks the third consecutive season the team has claimed an award. The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

Coach David Rehr's Red Wolves registered a 3.52 cumulative GPA during the last academic year, including a 3.62 during the spring 2017 semester, which was the best among all sports at Arkansas State.

“I'm glad this award has become the norm for our program,” Rehr said. “It's so easy as fans, and even coaches or players, to focus on wins and losses in any sport. Wins and losses are obviously important, but these are student-athletes so you have to be mindful of the student part and our team does. It isn't easy to find players that can be successful on the court like we have been the past few years and also be remarkable students.”

Additionally, A-State was the Sun Belt Conference's Team Academic Champion and had 12 players earn Academic Honor Roll or Commissioner's List status from the league at last year's banquet held prior to the conference tournament.

The AVCA Team Academic Award, celebrating its 25th year, is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients have increased every single year but two, while amassing a 532 team increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 822.

Arkansas State opens the 2017 campaign Aug. 25-26 at the Bluegrass Battle in Lexington, Ky. The Red Wolves open with Kentucky at 10 a.m. Aug. 25 before playing Cincinnati in its second match of the day at 5 p.m.

Fans can follow the team on Twitter (@AStateVB) and Instagram (astatevolleyball) along with liking the Arkansas State University Volleyball page on Facebook for the latest news and updates regarding the team.